KubuntuPowersave
Power management is one of key features required for great laptop support. Ubuntu is one of best distributions for laptop support, but there are still ways to improve this in Kubuntu.
Current Situation: KLaptop
Kubuntu by default comes with klaptopdaemon package which provides KLaptop applet in KDE systray and klaptopdaemon running in background and communicating with acpi-support scripts.
Pros:
- Uses acpi-support infrastructure provided by Ubuntu
Cons:
- klaptop is not maintained upstream
- klaptop has many issues (and no one to fix them)
- klaptop is not enabled by default (user has to configure klaptopdaemon and supported features manually)
- no daemon process that control PM when user is not logged in
Alternative: Powersave/KPowersave
Dapper Universe currently have old version of of kpowersave ([http://packages.ubuntu.com/dapper/kde/kpowersave 0.5.2-1ubuntu1]) and powersave ([http://packages.ubuntu.com/dapper/admin/powersaved 0.11.2-1]). The problem is that these packages cannot be installed if conflicting packages (powernowd, cpudyn, cpufreqd, apmd) are not deinstalled first. Since powernowd and ampd are required by *-desktop packages (including kubuntu-desktop), this means that your *-desktop package has to be removed (together with powernowd and apmd) in order to make it work which is not acceptable for regular users.
Pros:
- cleaner user interface
- more functionality: multi battery monitor, CPU freq monitor, PM schemes...
- clear Debian maintainer and active development team (that is accepting patches from distros)
- power management done by daemon (powersaved) and works without active GUI (and logged user)
- uses acpi-support infrastructure if configured EVENT_GLOBAL_SUSPEND2DISK_OTHER="suspend2" in /etc/powersave/events points to /usr/local/lib/powersave/scripts/suspend2 (fixed in v12 of powersave, works with suspend2 and with acpi-support infrastructure)
Cons:
- conflicting with existing Ubuntu packages: powernowd, cpudyn, cpufreqd, apmd
- needs more testing / feedback to be sure it can replace klaptop
- no configuration module for System settings - would need to write one (SuSE has it in yast2)
How to get Powersave/KPowersave to mainstream?
Note: this is not linked to any specific release, however it would be great if something can be done already for DapperDrake.
Prepare latest test packages for Dapper - DONE
Mbiebl provided test packages (source and i386 binaries) that can be installed on Dapper - see [https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/kubuntu-devel/2006-March/000910.html announcement]
- packages have Conflicts/Provides rule for all conflicting packages (allow install on Dapper w/o removal of *-desktop)
- redirect /etc/acpi/events to ignore (temporarily until better solution is implemented)
packages tested by: LukaRenko, Sebastian Kügler, AchimBohnet, <please add your name here>
- known issue: install my complain about /proc/acpi/event being busy - workaround: reboot
- Polish packages for upload to Universe and get the REVU-ed
- address /etc/acpi/events redirection in a way that it does not break gnome-power-manager
- this may require change to apci-support scripts to check for "powersaved" process
- need to work with Ubuntu laptop team on how this should be done properly
- fix kpowersave .desktop icon (not to show in GNOME menu)
recently done by RaphaelPinson for older package - [https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/dapper-changes/2006-March/007186.html details]
- address /etc/acpi/events redirection in a way that it does not break gnome-power-manager
Request UpstreamVersionFreeze [https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-motu/2006-February/000545.html exception] for powersave/kpowersave
- since old version cannot be installed w/o removing *-desktop packages it makes sense anyhow
- we should maybe wait for final release of 0.6 (as it is planned in March)
- Get lots of testing by Kubuntu laptop users
- we should confirm that kpowersave is as good as exiting klaptop
- we should get feedback for all supported platforms (i386, amd64, ppc)
- Consider main inclusion
- this is prerequisite to include it by default on Kubuntu
- Consider making kpowersave default for kubuntu-desktop
as we now know it is better than klaptop
Installing KPowersave from test repository
If you would like to test kpowersave/powersave on your laptop, you can install it from Kubuntu test repository (currently only i386 packages are provided):
Add Kubuntu test repository to your /etc/apt/sources.list
deb http://kubuntu.no-ip.org/kubuntu dapper main deb-src http://kubuntu.no-ip.org/kubuntu dapper main
- Install kpowersave (will install also powersave)
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install kpowersave
- Start kpowersave
kpowersave
- Reboot (check below notes first)
Note: powersave will remove apmd/powernowd/klaptopdaemon packages. If you want to go back to klaptop (not that this can happen in real life ;-)), you should remove powersave/kpowersave (sudo apt-get remove libpowersave10) and then reinstall kubuntu-desktop (sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop).
Note: if you have been using test repository version with acpid redirection (powersave 0.12.2, kpowersave 0.5.10), they you should do the folowing:
Remove divert for /usr/sbin/acpid: sudo dpkg-divert --package powersaved --rename --remove /usr/sbin/acpid
Reinstall acpid: sudo apt-get install --reinstall acpid
Reinstall acpi-support: sudo apt-get install --reinstall acpi-support
Test reports
If you have tested Kpowersave on your laptop, please report it in this table:
Laptop |
Tested by |
Suspend RAM |
Suspend Disk |
Standby |
CPU freq |
Hotkeys |
Notes |
[:LaptopTestingTeam/HPNW8240/Kubuntu:HP nw8240] |
No |
Yes |
Untested |
Improvement |
No |
suspend only with 2.6.15-15 (see [https://launchpad.net/bugs/34587 #34587]) |
|
[:LaptopTestingTeam/DellLatitudeD600:Dell D600] |
Untested |
No |
Untested |
Improvement |
Yes |
Regression: After every power plug in, I have to switch to powersaving mode, otherwise fan speed/noise increases |
|
Acer TravelMate 292LMi |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Improvement |
No |
Untested |
|
[:LaptopTestingTeam/ApplePowerbookG4_15in_1.0GHz Powerbook G4] |
No |
No |
Untested |
Improvement |
Untested |
When trying to suspend to Disk, I get a kernel error message. Choosing suspend to RAM seems to block everything. However, I can still get in suspend mode by closing the lid. |
|
IBM ThinkPad R32 |
Improvement |
Yes |
not supported by HW |
Improvement |
Untested |
Suspend2Ram didn't worked with klaptop, but with KPowersave |
|
IBM ThinkPad T21 |
Yes |
Improvement (APM) |
Yes |
Improvement |
Untested |
work better with APM (use acpi=off kernelparam and start powersave without -f (see [https://launchpad.net/bugs/37512 #37512])) with ACPI only s2disk work, klaptop doesn't support s2disk on APM, but KPowersave |
Notes:
Yes: it works like before (with klaptop)
No: it does not work (but it did not work with klaptop either)
Improvement: works better than with klaptop
Regression: works worse/broken (put details in notes/comments)
Untested: not tried (yet)
There is also discussion going on in this [http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=151222 forum thread].
KPowersave Issues / Questions / Comments
This is a list of issues/questions that need clarification or discussion with developers of powersave/kpowersave:
- Administration applet for KDE
- SuSE uses YAST, what can we do in Kubuntu (kde-guidance/pykde applet?)
- Performance scheme is default when on power
- if user changes this in sys tray, should this be saved as new default into config (for next start)?
- Screensaver dcop call should block until screen is locked
- Powersave on PPC
need to provide latest packages to verify bug [https://launchpad.net/bugs/35006 35006]
does not look like that good on PPC - raphink will probably report more